The 21st century challenges: the view from the Scottish Parliament

Abstract

Purpose

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) was created at the end of the 20th century to meet the needs of the new Scottish Parliament. With the opportunity to start afresh, this paper seeks to analyse the most important elements on which new services were based.

Design/methodology/approach

A discursive account giving a general overview.

Findings

Library and information services increasingly face the challenge of justifying the value they are adding to their organisation. Experience showed the following requirements to be crucial factors in achieving this goal: the need to align your service with the objectives of your organisation, the need to build and maintain your credibility and the need to meet your customers face to face.

Research limitations/implications

This narrative approach provides material for further research and more theoretical analysis of the relationship between government and its supporting information services.

Originality/value

There are so few examples of establishing new parliamentary information services that this analysis of the initial and continuing challenges involved in creating such a service is uniquely instructive.

Citation

Seaton, J. (2006), "The 21st century challenges: the view from the Scottish Parliament", Library Review, Vol. 55 No. 8, pp. 489-496. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530610689338